110° In the Shade

Ten year old Ralph lives with his mother and step-father on the family farm in north central Kansas. August 1938 has been beastly hot. Ralph and his buddies, Rusty and Teag seek respite in a cool spring-fed eddy downriver, below the old Sputter place. The old Sputter place is locally renowned as haunted. Ralph is captured by bank robbers on the lam at the Sputter house and is sworn to secrecy on threat of harm to his family. Ralph is charged with keeping them apprised of local news and keeping the leader in fresh eggs. Directly across the river is the Lowdermilk place. Wildcatters are drilling for oil. Missus Lowdermilk feeds oil crews round the clock. Ralph's mother loans him to Missus Lowdermilk to help with the constant food preparation and cleanup. The gang's attractive mol, Dottie, seems out of place. Ralph has designs of rescuing her from this sordid fate. The leader, Eph, is educated and well-spoken, and has justification for his thievery worked out both intellectually and biblically. Ralph has doubts and seeks counsel from Reverend Pettigrew on biblical aspects of thievery and stewardship. The State Bank up town is robbed. Eph insists that it was not the work of his gang. Ralph is unsure, the facts just don't add up. Then he finds an empty leather State Bank satchel on the mud bank below the Sputter place and hides it. Eph persists in his defense and posits another possibility. Ralph seeks to fetch the satchel from the hiding place and finds the hidey hole planted with a nest of water moccasins and is snake bit on the face...
About the Author: Ralph Neighbor was bred in Kansas, born across the state line in Missouri but raised back in Kansas, in greater Kansas City, which would seem to make him a city boy. However, the old saw 'you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy' rings true. Rural family ties had a strong pull. He spent as much of his formative years as parents would allow in the maternal family's home province of Downs, Kansas in the north central part of the State. There he took in the culture, attended local celebrations, contributed to local mischief, listened to stories from aunts and uncles and cousins, grandfather and great grandfather. With adolescence annual autumn pheasant hunts become part of the picture. A little later came extended drives with Grandpa Floyd all over the countryside and through nearby communities, Floyd supplying colorful nonstop monologue regarding who used to live here and who used to live there, and what they did and what happened to whom and when, and what those so-and-sos from the government had done to mess up the country in general and farming in particular. Ralph has always been a good listener. Ralph did his college at Kansas State University and medical doctor training at Kansas University. He trained in Obstetrics at the hospital where he was born. He delivered many babies over the next four decades, first in Kansas, then in Washington State. Ralph and partner Pam raised four children and enjoy seven grandchildren. In addition to writing Ralph has passion for music, fly fishing, trains and worship.